An Allentown man charged with raping a 14-year-old girl didn't go to trial as scheduled yesterday because his attorney learned the man had stopped payment on a $1,000 check for legal fees.

A Lehigh County jury was chosen and sworn in during the morning to hear the case against Lawrence Clair Greene, 38, of the 400 block of S. St. George St.

Greene, who claimed he was an industrial psychologist, is charged with raping a girl who said he hypnotized her.

Greene's attorney, Dianne Dickson, said that during the noon recess, she received a written notice from a bank that Greene had stopped payment on the check for reasons she said she could not disclose.

Dickson asked Judge Maxwell E. Davison to allow her to withdraw from the case. "I felt that our professional relationship had been put in jeopardy," she said, "and he (Greene) would not be getting effective counsel to which he is entitled."

Davison declared a mistrial with "great reluctance" and allowed Dickson to withdraw from the case.

He told Greene, who admitted he stopped payment on the check, thathe could apply for a public defender or get another lawyer "promptly."

Assistant District Attorney John Waldron, who opposed the mistrial, said the trial would be scheduled for the next term of criminal court in January.

Davison said nonpayment of fees shouldn't be the basis for withdrawing from a case but added, "The bottom line is that the person accused of serious charges - and these are serious charges - should have the opportunity, and has the right under the law, to counsel, to effective counsel.

"Counsel's effectiveness could be swayed in light of the relationship," he said.

Dickson said Greene "indicated that he intends to make good on the check." If he doesn't, she said, she will consider pursuing criminal charges.

In another development, Davison revoked bail for Greene after hearing a recitation of Greene's bail history and his failure to post appropriate property bail.

Greene has been in and out of the county prison since charges of rape, indecent assault and corruption of minors were bound over for court after a preliminary hearing in May.

District Justice Edward Pressmann revoked signature bond after that hearing, and Greene was sent to prison.

An Allentown woman, whose daughter reportedly was dating Greene, later helped him obtain $20,000 bail on the rape charges by posting her house. Greene's freedom was short-lived; the woman withdrew collateral in July because she feared he would flee, prosecutors said.

The woman's daughter, who prosecutors said was Greene's girlfriend, got a deed to a Philadelphia property to be posted for bail. Greene was out on bail from Aug. 13 to Aug. 22 when he was arrested and charged with beating the woman.

He was committed to prison in lieu of $30,000 bail on assault charges. The charges were dismissed on Oct. 16, and Greene was released when the woman told Waldron she did not want to proceed with the case.

Greene was back in prison Dec. 2 after prosecutors were told by an anonymous source that Greene did not own the Philadelphia property he used as collateral for the rape charges.

Waldron said the district attorney's office asked a Bryn Mawr company to do a title search and found that Greene was only the trustee for the property. The title search turned up 22 judgments against Greene and at least four or five liens against the property at 1614 N. 15th St. in North Philadelphia, according to Waldron.

At a hearing on Nov. 29, Judge Robert K. Young gave Greene until Dec. 2 to post property bail. Waldron said Greene missed his court appointment at noon Dec. 2 and turned himself in without arrangements for bail at about 5:30 p.m.

Dickson said she signed the cer- tificate that said $27,000 was the appraised value of the property and asserted that there were no judgments, liens or mortgages against the property.

She said she relied on papers given to her by a Philadelphia abstractor.

"If someone comes in with a title search, we generally accept it," Dickson said.

The law firm sometimes has an Allentown company do a title search but didn't in Greene's case because the property was not in Lehigh County, she said.

Anita L. Charles, chief deputy clerk of courts, said the clerk of courts office is not responsible for checking the accuracy of the title search.

The office requires that the certificate be signed by an attorney or an abstractor who "acts as an officer of the court and certifies that this is true and correct," Charles said.

"They are guaranteeing to the court that it is what it is," she added. "We take the attorney's word."